Exercise devices are well-known for body building and conditioning. Athletes in many sports exercise to improve their body conditioning in preparation for their chosen sport. Some sports require special conditioning to toughen muscles against impact and to strengthen selective muscle groups. For example, boxers, hockey players, football players and others must become conditioned to withstand contact to various parts of their body.
Conventional exercise apparatus tend to be bulky and heavy such as bar bells, universal gyms and the like. Normally, muscles are exercised by working the muscle groups isometrically or kinetically.
Exercising devices have been developed to strengthen various portions of the body by impact conditioning but such devices suffer from certain drawbacks and problems.
In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 1,679,174 to Richards, et al. discloses a body punch resistance developer in which a padded block 7 is connected to a spring arm 4 that is moved by operating arms 11 to cause a padded block to strike the torso of a person. The device is intended to be used by boxers to increase resistance of the torso muscles to blows. The device is mounted on the floor, and is not portable or useful for exercising muscle groups other than torso muscles.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,253,758 to Bulloch discloses an exercising device which is designed to be installed on a wall. The exercising device includes a plate 10 which extends outwardly from the wall. A cushion is preferably provided between the plate and a supporting bar. The user stands a short distance from the plate, and then falls against the plate contacting the plate with his abdomen. This device is again not portable and intended for strengthening of only the abdominal muscles of a user. U.S. Pat. No. 2,319,109 to Bulloch discloses an improvement of the prior Bulloch device including a spring steel element to provide additional resiliency.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,589 to Outlaw discloses another abdominal exercise device wherein a bowling ball 12 is hung from an overhead support. The ball is suspended at the height of a user's abdomen, and then swung repeatedly in an arcuate path to strike abdominal muscles.
Other exercise devices that have been developed for various purposes include a gymnastic device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,792 to Rogall. The Rogall device includes opposite equally sized thickened end portions formed of a rubber or soft foam material that can be used for rhythmic exercises and play. The device is not intended to be used for muscle strengthening or impact conditioning.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,336,029 to London discloses a boxing stick comprising a rigid bar having two ends with equal sized padded head 16 on opposite ends. The boxing stick is intended to be used for training in hand-to-hand combat, and is not intended to be used for muscle toning by self-inflicted blows.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,022,002 to Jacks, discloses an exercise device including a spring element which is intended to be compressed for quasi-isometric exercise. The device includes opposite padded ends which are engaged by a user to compress the spring interconnecting the two opposite ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,610 to Israel discloses a baton-like club adapted for isometric and aerobic exercises. There is no disclosure or suggestion in the patent that the device be used to increase the user's muscle resistance to repeated blows or any similar method.
None of the above prior art devices disclose or suggest the use of an impact or direct force application type exercise device useful in a variety of force imparting motions to condition selected muscle groups. The prior art abdominal exercisers are somewhat hazardous in that first time users may initially use excessive force and cause harm to themselves. Such devices also suffer from the fact that they are normally installed as fixtures and are not portable. Several of the prior art exercising devices include moving parts which may require some maintenance or calibration for proper use. All of the above devices are useful only to exercise a limited number of muscle groups and are not intended for overall body conditioning. Another problem faced by the prior art devices is difficulty in adapting the devices to different training levels.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and effective exercising apparatus which is useful to condition a wide variety of muscle groups by imparting different types of force directly to the selected muscle group. Glancing blows, twisting forces, impact forces and rolling forces may be imparted with the exercise apparatus of the present invention.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a series of methods of exercising which maximize the versatility of the exercise device of the present invention.
The above problems are solved by the exercise apparatus of the present invention, and the method of using the exercise apparatus. Other objects and advantages of the invention are summarized below and described with reference to the drawings.